Cajun’s Closet, a popular thrift store that has raised funds for the Lakewood-based Cat Care Society since 1995, is being closed.

“The board has chosen to close Cajun’s Closet Thrift Shop and focus future efforts on the success of its cat shelter and clinic operations,” said Diane Stoner, president of the society’s board of directors.

The society’s shelter and clinic are located at 5787 W. 6th Avenue and the thift shop has been at 5707 6th Avenue. The shop’s final public sales are Dec. 31 from 9 a.m. until noon. Everything is 80 percent off.

Maggie Holben, a public relations profesional who is vice president of the society’s board, said the thift store became a financial drain on the non-profit society.

“It wasn’t a good business model,” Holben said. “The society had to staff it.” The tough economy has also taken its toll, she added.

Travel and OutWest editor Kyle Wagner grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in Lake County, Ill., and Naples, Fla., before moving to Denver in 1993, where she reviewed restaurants for Westword before moving to The Denver Post in 2002. She considers the best days to be those that involve her teenage daughters and doing something outside, preferably mountain biking or whitewater rafting.

Dean Krakel is a photo editor (primarily sports) at The Denver Post. A native of Wyoming, he has authored three books, "Season of the Elk," "Downriver" and "Krakel's West." An avid kayaker, rafter, mountain biker, trail runner, telemark skier and backpacker, Dean's outdoor adventures have taken him around the world.

Douglas Brown was raised about 30 miles west of Philadelphia in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he spent a lot of time running around in the woods and fields (where he hunted and explored), and in the ocean (where he surfed and stared at the horizon). Now he lives in Boulder and spends as much time hiking, running, skiing and boarding the High Country (and the Boulder foothills) as possible.

Ricardo Baca is the entertainment editor and pop music critic at The Denver Post, as well as the founder and executive editor of Reverb and the co-founder of The UMS. Happy days often involve at least one of these: whitewater rafting, snowshoeing, vintage Vespas, writing, camping, live music, road trips, snowboarding or four-wheeling.